M. Suzanne Terry

August remains the busiest month at work at UNT after switching departments. In advising, we are finishing up orientation and helping students navigate difficulties as classes begin. I’m just delighted to be doing it all indoors and in our own building.

This August brings some exciting milestones in my reading year. I am so, so close to finishing my Libro.fm challenge. I think I can do it this month.

Without further ado…here are the books!

[Ok, a little further ado – a disclaimer. I am a Bookshop.org affiliate – I get a cut of the sales from most of the links below.]

Book Clubs

• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
• Lore Olympus: Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe – Graphic novel is the theme for Rise & Shine
• Educated by Tara Westover – a re-read for me, but it was so good, I think I’m going to at least heavily skim it again.
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
• No Less Strange or Wonderful by A. Kendra Greene

Cozy

• Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
• Lore Olympus: Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe
• Off Menu by Amy Rosen (narrated by Emma Johnson)
• A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater (narrated by Nigel Slater)
• A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey
• The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Libro.fm

The end is in sight, and I’m pumped and up to the task! *Rocky theme song playing triumphantly in background* I got so excited when I started making this list in late July that I have already finished a couple of these books. 

• A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater (narrated by Nigel Slater) – Listen to a genre you’ve never tried on audio before. As I have tried almost every genre I read on audio before, it was a challenge to find one to fit this prompt. So I had to go very specific. I can honestly say I’ve never read a foodie memoir written in short essay/vignette form and narrated by the author on audio before, and I am looking forward to it!
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller) – Listen to an audiobook by an author of Asian and/or Pacific Island descent. I liked this book, and the audio was…okay. I’m not sure I’m invested enough to commit to the series, though, and if I do, I’ll probably read the hard copy. The character development is good; I would expect no less from R.F. Kuang.
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (narrated by Shane Ghostkeeper, Marin Ireland, and Owen Teale) – Listen to an audiobook by an Indigenous author
• Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar (narrated by Arian Moayed) – Listen to an audiobook by a South West Asian and/or North African author 
• Off Menu by Amy Rosen (narrated by Emma Johnson) – Listen to an audiobook from an independent press. The main character is not a great person or friend; her only saving grace is that her parents aren’t great at giving sound advice or being supportive beyond their own agenda, so clearly she’s modeling their bad examples and I can give her a little grace for that (although…if one has the means to do so…and she does…therapy is a thing that adults can do to fill in the inevitable gaps left by their raising and *gestures broadly at the world*…I’m just saying…). Also, the romance trope in this book is one of my least favorites. Both of those things could be chalked up to personal preference (i.e., not necessarily making the book “bad” but just “not for me”). The reason I gave it a low rating, though, was that the writer also dealt with several heavy topics way too lightly – almost flippantly. I suppose it could be argued that the flippancy was due to the (selfish, toxically positive) main character’s voice, but it landed as an excuse not to address the heaviness of the situations in the writing itself. It’s unusual for me to give a 2-star review (I usually just don’t finish if I’m getting so little out of it, but the book was short and checked a box on the challenge), but that was all the enthusiasm I could muster for this book.
• Plan or join an audiobook outing (third time’s the charm) – I have struggled with this prompt, so I finally just googled “audiobook outing near me” and came across a book club at a local yarn store. As I understand it, they start an audiobook together at their meeting that they listen to while crafting, and they are tasked with finishing the audiobook by the next meeting. So I think I’m going to give it a try. If that doesn’t pan out, I’m just going to take a drive while listening to Flashlight by Susan Choi (narrated by Eunice Wong), and call it a day.

Anti Brain Rot

• Lore Olympus: Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe – A graphic novel
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – A classic

52 Book Club 

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley – Set in the Arctic or Antarctic
• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – Spans a decade or more
• Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar (narrated by Arian Moayed) – Award-winning book from last year
• Theo of Golden by Allen Levi – Includes a handwritten interior font
• Maame by Jessica George – Domestic fiction

Overeducated Women With Cats

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley – A book that blends genres (sci-fi romantasy)

Popsugar

• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (narrated by Emily Woo Zeller) – A book with “pop” or “sugar” in the title
• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid – A book about women astronauts

Read Your Bookshelf

• Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao – water word (in title or on cover)

I hope you have a wonderful August, full of your favorite things.